Through the Immigrant Artist Project (IAP), the New York Foundation for the Arts is building and serving a community of artists with diverse backgrounds who share the experience of immigration. We connect artists with services and resources to foster their creative careers, gain support and exposure for their work, and integrate into the cultural world of New York and beyond while upholding their distinct identities.

The freeCon Edison IAP Newsletter is sent out via email and posted online every month. The newsletter lists information on upcoming opportunities and events of particular interest to immigrant artists but open to all. We also feature an artist or an arts/immigrant services organization, and helpful tips for professional development. Additionally, there are new sections on helpful tips translated into different languages as well as the Mentoring Alumni Corner to highlight the achievements and activities of past mentees of our Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists.

Cultural Community Events expand the accessibility of the Immigrant Artist Project by offering instructional workshops, seminars, and panels on themes responsive to the needs of immigrant artists. Some topics include grant writing, legal services and marketing. To present these programs, we partner with cultural, advocacy, social and immigrant service organizations throughout New York City. This approach cultivates and strengthens a network of advocates and service providers for immigrant artists.

The Individual Consultation Initiative provides immigrant artists with practical and professional advice from an arts professional who has extensive experience in supporting artists in the areas of visual and performing arts. Each in-person appointment is $30 for a 30-minute session.

The Mentoring Program for Immigrant Artists pairs emerging foreign-born artists with artists who have received a NYFA Fellowship. The mentors interact with their mentees one-on-one for a period of six months, guiding them in achieving specific goals and providing them with broader access to the New York cultural world through an exchange of ideas, resources and experiences. The program helps immigrant artists build some necessary skills to fairly compete as professional artists in New York.

The NYFA Folk Artist Development Program helps senior members of immigrant communities build professional skills and resources to carry forward their traditional art forms. It is open to traditional artists of the material and/or performing arts. We build the capacity of participants through seminars, workshops, and individual consultations. We also provide them with the opportunity to showcase their traditions in demonstrations and performances for diverse audiences at various sites in the NYC area. Artists are provided a $100 stipend for their participation in the program.

Migration Citizenship Eduacation is a powerful, user-friendly information platform developed by Network Migration in Europe e.V. which provides free online access to learning resources on migration, minorities and human rights in European Citizenship Education on a european and national level, current discourses on migration, minorities, asylum, citizenship, identities and human rights in transmigration and immigration societies in the past and present, diverse and similar experiences and conflicts shown through the country profiles of Germany, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece, Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia, facilitated search for good practice projects and co-operation partners, support for all those involved in education, politics, culture, media and society, issues involving migrants and migration policies touch all levels of society in an enlarged Europe. Migrationeducation.org started its service in early 2007 and is updated regularly. Other country profiles and migration and minority issues are planned.

The portal www.migrationeducation.org wants to adhere to the demands for rapid and well-founded information on migration, minorities and human rights in past and present. New transnational perspectives, knowledge on inclusion and exclusion policies and practices of migrants and minorities in european societies, are needed in order to strengthen democracy and human rights.

The Webportal is based on a collection of learning resources on (Forced) migration and human rights in Europe´s past and present specifically designed to provide support to all those involved in education, politics, culture, media and society.

The portal is provided by Network Migration in Europe e. V. in cooperation with european partners:

The International Metropolis Project is a forum for bridging research, policy and practice on migration and diversity. The Project aims to enhance academic research capacity, encourage policy-relevant research on migration and diversity issues, and facilitate the use of that research by governments and non-governmental organizations.

The International Metropolis Project is an international network of researchers, policy makers, and community groups engaged in identifying, understanding, and responding to developments in migration and diversity. Through our efforts, we encourage the production and effective communication of policy-relevant knowledge amongst decision-makers, thought leaders, and practitioners. Our network includes partners from across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific and is growing in Africa and Latin America. Our international conferences are the largest annual gathering of experts in the fields of migration and diversity. In addition to a comprehensive study tour program, and just under 100 workshops, our plenary programme offers access to the insights, challenges, and prescriptions of some of the world’s key experts.

In addition to our conferences, the network comes together through shared research projects, publications and informal policy discussions. Exchanges of policy and research expertise is also fostered by smaller Inter-Conference Seminars and publications, including the Journal of International Migration and Integration, that showcase international research on migration and diversity.

Our efforts are governed through a Secretariat, jointly located in Ottawa and Amsterdam, as well as biannual meetings of our International Steering Committee.

The next annual Metropolis conference will return in 2013 with a full event In Tampere, Finland from September 9 to 13.

During 2012 Metropolis will arrange a series of regional Metropolis Inter-Conference Seminars that will be announced in their web.